Elected Officials, Election, Representative, Voting

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“Be it remembered, however, that liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood. And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers. Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better agents, attorneys, and trustees.”John Adams, A Dissertation on The Canon and Feudal Law, 1765

“… [A] comprehensive Knowledge of Arts and Sciences, especially of Law and History, of Geography, Commerce, War and of Life, is necessary for an American Statesman…”John Adams, Letter to James Warren, July 17, 1774

“In a Community consisting of large Numbers, inhabiting an extensive country, it is not possible that the whole should assemble, to make Laws.The most natural Substitute for an Assembly of the whole, is a Delegation of Power, from the Many, to a few of the most wise and virtuous…[And] great Care should be taken in the Formation of it, to prevent unfair, partial and corrupt Elections.”John Adams, Letter to John Penn (Thoughts on Government), March 27, 1776

“… [without] the great political virtues of humility, patience, and moderation… every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey.”John Adams, Thoughts on Government, April 1776

“You shall have my hearty Concurrence in telling the Jury, the Nullity of Acts of Parliament, whether We can prove it by the Ius Gladii [Capital Crimes, “Right of the Sword”]or not. I am determined to live and die of that Opinion, let the Ius Gladii, Say what it will. The System and Rules of the Common Law, must be adopted, I Suppose, until the Legislature Shall make Alterations in Either, and how much So ever, I may, heretofore have found fault with the Powers that were, I suppose, I shall now be well pleased to hear Submission inculcated [taught, admonished] to the Powers that be—because they are ordained for good.”John Adams, Letter to Justice William Cushing, June 9, 1776

“…we [would] be unfaithful to ourselves… if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.If an election… can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.”John Adams, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1797

“… [George Washington’s example] will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.”John Adams, Address to the Senate, December 23, 1799

“But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.We must not conclude merely upon a man’s haranguing upon liberty, and using the charming sound, that he is fit to be trusted with the liberties of his country. It is not infrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by it but their own liberty, — to oppress without control or the restraint of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves…

The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven [Liberty], let us become a virtuous people: then shall we both deserve and enjoy it. While, on the other hand, if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in reality be the most abject slaves.”Samuel Adams, Essay Published in the Advertiser, 1748

“The true patriot therefore, will inquire into the causes of the fears and jealousies [suspicions] of his countrymen; and if he finds they are not groundless, he will be far from endeavoring to allay or stifle them:On the contrary… he will by all proper means in his power foment [encourage] and cherish them:He will, as far as he is able, keep the attention of his fellow citizens awake to their grievances; and not suffer them to be at rest, till the causes of their just complaints are removed.

…the true patriot, will constantly be jealous of [Government officials]… Knowing that power, especially in times of corruption, makes men wanton [indecent]; that it intoxicates the mind; and unless [Government officials]…are carefully watched… they will be apt to domineer over the people, instead of governing them, according to the known laws of the state, to which alone they have submitted.”Samuel Adams, Writing as “Vindex”, Boston Gazette, January 21, 1771

“To violate the laws of the state is a capital crime; and if those guilty of it are invested with authority, they add to this crime, a perfidious [treacherous] abuse of the power with which they are entrusted…”Samuel Adams, Boston Gazette, January 21, 1771

“Government was instituted for the purposes of common defense; and… the same community which they serve, ought to be assessors of their pay:Governors [elected officials] have no right to seek what they please; by this, instead of being content with the station assigned them, that of honorable servants of the society, they would soon become Absolute masters, Despots, and Tyrants.Hence as a private man has a right to say, what wages he will give in his private affairs, so has a Community to determine what they will give and grant of their Substance, for the Administration of public affairs.”Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists, November 20, 1772

“It is now in the power of our assembly to establish many wholesome laws and regulations, which could not be done under the former administration of government [British].Corrupt men may be kept out of places of public trust; the utmost circumspection I hope will be used in the choice of men for public officers.

It is to be expected that some who are void of the least regard to the public, will put on the appearance and even speak boldly the language of patriots, with the sole purpose of gaining the confidence of the public, and securing the loaves and fishes for themselves or their sons or other connections. Men who stand candidates for public posts, should be critically traced in their views and pretensions, and though we would despise mean and base suspicion, there is a degree of jealousy which is absolutely necessary in this degenerate state of mankind, and is indeed at all times to be considered as a political virtue.”Samuel Adams, Letter to Elbridge Gerry, October 29, 1775

“Other nations have received their laws from conquerors; some are indebted for a constitution to the sufferings of their ancestors through revolving centuries. The people of this country alone have formally and deliberately chosen a government for themselves, and with open and uninfluenced consent bound themselves to a social compact. Here no man proclaims his birth or wealth as a title to honorable distinction or to sanctify ignorance and vice with the name of hereditary authority. He who has most zeal and ability to promote public felicity, let him be the servant of the public.”Samuel Adams, Oration Delivered at the State House, August 1, 1776

“The Choice of Legislators, magistrates and Governors, is surely a Business of the greatest Moment, and claims the Attention of every Citizen…Hence every Citizen will see, and I hope will be deeply impressed with a Sense of it, how exceedingly important it is to himself, and how intimately the welfare of his Children is connected with it, that those who are to have a Share in making as well as in judging and executing the Laws should be Men of singular Wisdom and Integrity…I hope the great Business of Elections will never be left by the Many, to be done by the Few; for before we are aware of it, that few may become the Engine of Corruption…

Heaven forbid! that our Countrymen should ever be biased in their Choice, by unreasonable Predilections [preconceived preference] for any man, or that an Attachment to the Constitution, as has been the Case in other Countries, should be lost in Devotion to Persons.The Effect of this would soon be, to change the Love of liberty into the Spirit of Faction.Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his VOTE, that he is not making a Present or a Compliment to please an Individual.But that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his Country.”Samuel Adams, Article in Boston Gazette, April 21, 1781

“… let us [elected officials] proceed with diffidence [modestly] cautiously and deliberately.Let not the Expense of Time deter us from exercising Patience, knowing how many Thousands are affected by our determinations.Let everyone thoroughly understand every subject and be well satisfied in his own Mind before he determines and if a Matter is doubtful let us not rashly pursue it.

Let us set out upon Principle and strictly adhere to it, and we shall be most likely to keep on the Path of Wisdom.Let Peace, harmony, and Union be our great [North] Pole Star and if it can be obtained on any rational Terms whatever let us pursue it with all our might, remembering that the Lips of Wisdom have pronounced, ‘Blessed is the Peace Maker for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’…

Let us lay aside every selfish private view remembering that we now represent a whole Colony and indeed future Generations yet unborn.That we are not our own but the public’s.That we know no Man but as a Member of the great whole.”Elias Bourdinot, First Provincial Congress of New Jersey, 1775

“Another essential ingredient in the happiness we enjoy as a nation, and which arises from the principles of our revolution, is the right that every people have to govern themselves in such a manner as they best calculated for the common benefit.

It is a principle interwoven with our Constitution, and not one of the least blessings purchased by that glorious struggle… that every man has a natural right to be governed by laws of his own making, either in person or by his representative…

This, fellow-citizens! is a most important practicable principle, first carried into complete execution by the United States of America…

To you, ye citizens of America! do the inhabitants of the earth look with eager attention for the success of a measure on which their happiness and prosperity so manifestly depend.

To use the words of a famous foreigner, ‘You are become the hope of human nature, and ought to become its great example.The asylum opened in your land for the oppressed of all nations must console the earth.’

On your virtue, patriotism, integrity, and submission to the laws of your own making, and the government of your own choice, do the hopes of men rest with prayers and supplications for a happy issue.”Elias Boudinot, Oration before the Society of the Cincinnati, July 4, 1793

“The most enlightened and zealous of our public servants can do little without the exertions of private citizens to perfect what they do but form, as it were, in embryo. The highest officers of our government are but the first servants of the people, and always in their power; they have therefore a just claim to a fair and candid experiment of the plans they form and the laws they enact for the public weal. Too much should not be expected from them; they are but men and of like passions and of like infirmities with ourselves; they are liable to err, though exercising the purest motives and best abilities required for the purpose.”Elias Boudinot, Oration before the Society of the Cincinnati, July 4, 1793

“Times and circumstances may change, and accidents intervene to disappoint the wisest measures. Mistaken and wicked men (who cannot live but in troubled waters) are often laboring with indefatigable zeal, which sometimes proves but too successful, to sour minds and derange the best formed systems. Plausible pretensions, censorious insinuations, are always at hand to transfer the deadly poison of jealousy, by which the best citizens may for a time be deceived.

These considerations should lead to an attentive solicitude to keep the pure, unadulterated principles of our Constitution always in view; to be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers; and as they are again in our power at very short periods, lend not too easily a patient ear to every invidious insinuation or improbable story, but prudently mark the effects of their public measures, and judge of the tree by its fruits.”Elias Boudinot, Oration before the Society of the Cincinnati, July 4, 1793

“I do not wish to discourage a constant and lively attention to the conduct of our rulers. A prudent suspicion of our public measures is a great security to a republican government…”Elias Boudinot, Oration before the Society of the Cincinnati, July 4, 1793

“… it is the Interest, and ought to be the Ambition, of all honest Magistrates [elected officials], to have their Deeds openly examined, and publicly scanned: Only the wicked Governors of Men dread what is said of them…”Benjamin Franklin, Writing as Silence Dogood, No. 8, July 9, 1722

“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government…”Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, December 26, 1787

“When occasions present themselves, in which the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection. Instances might be cited in which a conduct of this kind has saved the people from very fatal consequences of their own mistakes, and has procured lasting monuments of their gratitude to the men who had courage and magnanimity enough to serve them at the peril of their displeasure.”Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 71, March 18, 1788

“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. The most iniquitous plots may be carried on against their liberty and happiness. I am not an advocate for divulging indiscriminately all the operations of government… But to cover with the veil of secrecy the common routine of business, is an abomination in the eyes of every intelligent man, and every friend to his country.”Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 9, 1788

“… I am ashamed to refuse the little Boon [favor, petition] you ask of me, when your Example is before my Eyes—My Children would blush to know, that you & their Father were Contemporaries, & that when you asked him to throw in his Mite for the public Happiness, he refused to do it. In Conformity with these Feelings, I have declared myself a Candidate for this County at the next Election, since the Receipt of your Letter, but enjoying very indifferent Health I cannot leave my Home to make the Declaration efficacious as I could wish—The proceedings of the last Assembly have alarmed many thinking people hereabouts; & although there be Cause, for serious Apprehension, I trust the Friends of Order, Justice, & Truth will once more experience the Favor of that God who has so often & so signally bestowed his Blessings upon our Country.”Patrick Henry, Letter to George Washington (In Response to Washington’s Letter on January 15, 1799, and four months prior to Washington’s death), February 12, 1799

“…while you possess wisdom to discern and virtue to appoint men of worth and abilities to fill the offices of the State, you will be happy at home and respectable abroad.Your lives, your liberties, your property, will be at the disposal only of your Creator and yourselves. You will know no power but such as you will create; no authority unless derived from your grant; no laws but such as acquire all their obligation from your consent.Adequate security is also given to the rights of conscience and private judgment.”John Jay, Charge to the Grand Jury of Ulster Co., September 9, 1777

“In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve.Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories…The influence over government must be shared among all the people.If every individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate authority, the government will be safe…It has been thought that corruption is restrained by confining the right of suffrage to a few of the wealthier of the people: but it would be more effectually restrained by an extension of that right to such numbers as would bid defiance to the means of corruption.”Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, February 27, 1781

“… the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro’ the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them. I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under European governments.

… under pretence of governing they [European governments] have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe.Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you & I, & Congress & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves.” Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787

“… can history produce an instance of rebellion so honorably conducted? I say nothing of its motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty

We have had thirteen States independent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half, for each State. What country before, ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Stevens Smith, November 13, 1787

“… to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not the for peace, happiness, or prosperity of these States; and that… [this state] is determined… to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man or body of men, on earth;

that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the right remedy; that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact (casus non foederis), to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits;

that without this right they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whatsoever might exercise this right of judgment for them…”Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

“I do then with sincere zeal wish an inviolable preservation of our present federal constitution, according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the states, that in which it was advocated by its friends, & not that which its enemies apprehended, who therefore became its enemies: and I am opposed to the monarchising its features by the forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate a first transition to a President & Senate for life, & from that to a hereditary tenure of these offices, & thus to worm out the elective principle.”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799

“… I believe [we] shall obtain a majority in the legislature of the US attached to the preservation of the Federal constitution according to its obvious principles & those on which it was known to be received, [and] attached equally to the preservation to the states of those rights unquestionably remaining with them, friends to the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, trial by jury & to economical government, opposed to standing armies, paper [money] systems, war, & all connection other than of commerce with any foreign nation…

Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government.Public servants at such a distance, & from under the eye of their constituents, will, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer & overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizen; and the same circumstance by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite the public agents to corruption, plunder & waste: and I do verily believe that if the principle were to prevail of a common law being in force in the US. (which principle possesses the general government at once of all the powers of the state governments, and reduces us to a single consolidated government) it would become the most corrupt government on the face of the earth.

You have seen the practices by which the public servants have been able to cover their conduct, or, where that could not be done, the delusions by which they have varnished it for the eye of their constituents. what an augmentation of the field for jobbing, speculating, plundering, office-building & office hunting, would be produced by an assumption of all the state powers into the hands of the general government.The true theory of our constitution is surely the wisest & best, that the states are independent as to everything within themselves, & united as to everything respecting foreign nations.Let the general government be once reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our general government may be reduced to a very simple organization, & a very inexpensive one: a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.” Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Gideon Granger, August 13, 1800

“… every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle…I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself?I trust not.I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth.I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern.Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself.Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?Or, have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?Let history answer this question.

Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government…entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry…enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people?Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities [blessings].” Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“These [founding] principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages [wise men] and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from [the Founding Principles]… let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.”Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“Bad men will sometimes get in [government], and with such an immense patronage, may make great progress in corrupting the public mind and principles. This is a subject with which wisdom and patriotism should be occupied.”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Moses Robinson, March 23, 1801

“I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow citizens have again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which they have approved…I shall need… the favor of that Being… who has covered our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805

“I deplore with you the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed, and the malignity, the vulgarity, & mendacious [lying] spirit of those who write for them…These ordures [excrements] are rapidly depraving the public taste, and lessening its relish for sound food.As vehicles of information, and a curb on our functionaries [elected officials] they have rendered themselves useless by forfeiting all title to belief. That this has in a great degree been produced by the violence and malignity of party spirit I agree with you…”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Walter Jones, January 2, 1814

“I do not know that it [Jefferson’s library] contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection.There is in fact no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer.”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Samuel H. Smith, September 21, 1814

“… it would become the duty of the Wardens [officials] elected by the county, to take an active part in pressing the introduction of schools, and to look out for tutors…But if it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the Governor & council, the Commissioners of the literary fund, or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward [district], it is a belief against all experience. Try the principle one step further… so as to commit to the Governor & Council the management of all our farms, our mills, & merchants’ stores.

No, my friend, the way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to everyone exactly the functions he is competent to. Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation, and its foreign and federal relations; the State governments with the civil rights, laws, police, and administration of what concerns the State generally; the counties with the local concerns of the counties, and each ward direct the interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing these republics from the great national one down through all its subordinations, until it ends in the administration of every man's farm by himself; by placing under everyone what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best. What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and power into one body…”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Joseph Cabell, February 2, 1816

“Where every man is a sharer in the direction of his ward [city district]-republic, or of some of the higher ones, and feels that he is a participator in the government of affairs, not merely at an election one day in the year, but every day; when there shall not be a man in the State who will not be a member of some one of its councils, great or small, he will let the heart be torn out of his body sooner than his power be wrested from him by a Caesar or a Bonaparte. How powerfully did we feel the energy of this organization in the case of embargo? I felt the foundations of the government shaken under my feet by the New England townships. There was not an individual in their States whose body was not thrown with all its momentum into action…”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Joseph Cabell, February 2, 1816

“God bless you, and all our rulers, and give them the wisdom… to fortify [strengthen] us against the degeneracy of our government, and the concentration of all its powers in the hands of the one, the few, the well-born… [instead of] the many.”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Joseph Cabell, February 2, 1816

“… you are not to believe that these two parties are amalgamated, that the lion & the lamb are lying down together…For in truth the parties of Whig and Tory are those of nature. They exist in all countries, whether called by these names, or by those of Aristocrats and democrats, coté droite [right side] or coté gauche [left side], Ultras or Radicals, Serviles or Liberals. The sickly weakly, timid man fears the people, and is a Tory by nature. The healthy strong and bold cherishes them, and is formed a Whig by nature…

The line of division now is the preservation of state rights as reserved in the constitution, or by strained constructions of that instrument, to merge all into a consolidated government. The Tories are for strengthening the Executive and General government; The Whigs cherish the representative branch, and the rights reserved by the states as the bulwark against consolidation, which must immediately, generate Monarchy. And altho’ this division excites, as yet, no warmth; yet it exists, is well understood, & will be a principle of voting, at the ensuing election, with the reflecting men of both parties”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Marquis de Lafayette, November 4, 1823

“The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent…Or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of the press.”Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Major John Cartwright, June 5, 1824

“… Rulers who are guilty of [violating the Rights of the People]…exceed the commission from which they derive their authority, and are Tyrants.”James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, November 1785

“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations…”James Madison, Debates in the Several State Conventions, Vol 3, June 16, 1787

“The genius of republican liberty seems to demand on one side, not only that all power should be derived from the people, but that those entrusted with it should be kept in independence on the people, by a short duration of their appointments…”James Madison, Federalist No 37, January 11, 1788

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny…the preservation of liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.”James Madison, Federalist No. 47, February 1, 1788

“The internal effects of a mutable [unstable] policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessing of liberty itself. It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.”James Madison, Federalist No 62, February 27, 1788

“… I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation…no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.”James Madison, Virginia Debates, June 20, 1788

“The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, & most prone to it.It has accordingly with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legislature…”James Madison, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 2, 1798

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.”James Madison, Letter to William T. Barry, August 4, 1822

“Every man, therefore, will find the history of his own country the most interesting and the most instructive…

Our struggle, to defend and secure the rights of our fathers, tore away that veil which had long concealed the mysteries of government.Here, on this far western coast of the broad Atlantic Ocean; here, by the feeble hand of infant unconnected colonies, was raised a beacon to rouse and to alarm a slumbering world.It awoke, and was convulsed.What tremendous scenes it has exhibited!

The history of our day is, indeed, a school for princes; and, therefore, the proper school for American citizens.Exercising, by their delegates, the sovereign power, it is meet [fitting] they know how to assert and how to preserve their freedom.”Gouverneur Morris, An Inaugural Discourse Delivered Before the New York Historical Society, September 4, 1816

“The true and only true basis of representative government is equality of Rights.Every man has a right to one vote, and no more in the choice of representatives. The rich have no more right to exclude the poor from the right of voting, or of electing and being elected, than the poor have to exclude the rich…it is dangerous and impolitic, sometimes ridiculous, and always unjust to make property the criterion of the right of voting.”Thomas Paine, Dissertation on the First Principles of Government, 1795

“The right of voting for representatives, is the primary right by which other rights are protected…When we speak of right, we ought always to unite with it the idea of duties; right becomes duties by reciprocity.The right which I enjoy becomes my duty to guarantee it to another, and he to me; and those who violate the duty justly incur a forfeiture of the right.

In a political view of the case, the strength and permanent security of government is in proportion to the number of people interested in supporting it. The true policy therefore is to interest the whole by an equality of rights, for the danger arises from exclusions. It is possible to exclude men from the right of voting, but it is impossible to exclude them from the right of rebelling against that exclusion; and when all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect.”Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, July 1795

“It revives my soul, and rejoices my heart to find that the main body of the people… have their eyes opened to the danger and ruin we are threatened with… this heroic, and truly patriotic spirit… is undoubtedly a token for good; and will, if duly regulated by Christian principles and rules, ensure success to American liberty and freedom. No free state was ever yet enslaved and brought into bondage, where the people were incessantly vigilant and watchful… It is a duty incumbent upon us at all times, to keep a watchful attention… to watch and pray that we fall not.

I do not mean to encourage evil jealousies and groundless suspicions of our civil rulers… I am a firm friend to good order and regularity… That authority and government be supported and maintained so as to promote the good of society… However… there may possibly be some here and there in disguise… it might be well for you to guard…

As you have it in your power to choose your own rulers and officers… be very vigilant and watchful, and get a thorough knowledge of men’s political principles, before you advance them to any seat in government…”Samuel Sherwood, Scriptural Instructions to Civil Rulers, and all Free-born Subjects, August 31, 1774

“… the Executive branch of this government never has, nor will suffer, while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity; or will give its sanctions to any disorderly proceedings of its citizens.

By a firm adherence to these principles, and to the neutral policy which has been adopted, I have brought on myself a torrent of abuse in the factious papers in this country, and from the enmity of the discontented of all descriptions therein: But having no sinister objects in view, I shall not be diverted from my course by these, nor any attempts which are, or shall be made to withdraw the confidence of my constituents from me.I have nothing to ask, and discharging my duty, I have nothing to fear from invective.”George Washington, Letter to Gouverneur Morris, December 22, 1795

“… I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue…”George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

“… the great mass of the citizens of this state [Virginia] are well affected [inclined]… to the general government, and the Union… but how is this to be reconciled with their suffrages [voting] at the Elections of Representatives… who are men opposed to the first, and… would destroy the latter?Some among us have endeavored to account for this inconsistency, and though convinced themselves of its truth, they are unable to convince others…

One of the reasons assigned is, that the most respectable and best qualified characters among us will not come forward. Easy and happy in their circumstances at home, and believing themselves secure in their liberties and property, they will not forsake them, or their occupations, and engage in the turmoil of public business, or expose themselves to the calumnies of their opponents, whose weapons are detraction.

But at such a crisis as this, when everything dear & valuable to us is assailed…[with] attempts to infringe & trample upon the Constitution with a view to introduce Monarchy…When measures are systematically, and pertinaciously [obstinately] pursued, which must eventually dissolve the Union or produce coercion. I say, when these things have become so obvious, ought characters who are best able to rescue their Country from the pending evil to remain at home? Rather, ought they not to come forward, and by their talents and influence, stand in the breach which such conduct has made on the Peace and happiness of this Country, and oppose the widening of it?

Vain will it be to look for Peace and happiness, or for the security of liberty or property, if Civil discord should ensue; and what else can result from the policy of those among us, who, by all the means in their power, are driving matters to extremity, if they cannot be counteracted effectually? The views of Men can only be known, or guessed at, by their words or actions. Can those of the Leaders of Opposition be mistaken then, if judged by this Rule? That they are followed by numbers who are unacquainted with their designs, and suspect as little, the tendency of their principles…”George Washington, Letter to Patrick Henry, January 15, 1799

“There are some acts of the American legislatures which astonish men of information; and… we shall find that wrong measures generally proceed from ignorance either in the men themselves, or in their constituents…It may be true that all men cannot be legislators; but the more generally knowledge is diffused… the more perfect will be the laws of a republican state.”Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788

“The great benefit of a republican form of government is that the people, being the source of all authority, elect their own rulers, who, after a limited time, for which they are elected, return to the condition of private citizens.In this case the rulers and ruled have a common interest.If the representatives of the people enact unjust or oppressive laws, the people have a remedy, in the power of electing different men for representatives at a subsequent election, who may repeal such laws.

The evils of this form of government are, that ambitious and unprincipled men, in their strife for office, may and often do deceive and mislead the people, or corrupt them by offers of money and offices.In this case, the government often falls into the hands of wicked and profligate men.”Noah Webster,History of the United States, 1832

“When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, just men who will rule in the fear of God.The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty, and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good…[but] for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded.If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.Intriguing men can never be safely trusted.”Noah Webster, History of the United States (Advice to the Young), 1832

“As the means of temporal happiness, then the Christian religion ought to be received and maintained with firm and cordial support.It is the real source of all genuine republican principles.It teaches the equality of men as to rights and duties; and while it forbids all oppression, it commands due subordination to law and rulers.It requires the young to yield obedience to their parents, and enjoins upon men the duty of selecting their rulers from their fellow citizens of mature age, sound wisdom and real religion- ‘men who fear God and hate covetousness.’

The ecclesiastical establishments of Europe, which serve to support tyrannical governments, are not the Christian religion, but abuses and corruptions of it.The religion of Christ and his apostles, in its primitive simplicity and purity, unencumbered with the trappings of power and the pomp of ceremonies, is the surest basis of a republican government.”Noah Webster, History of the United States, 1832

“In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”Journals of Congress, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

“No member shall vote on any question, in the event of which he is immediately and particularly interested in [a conflict of interest]…”First Congress, April 7, 1789